Written and directed by Harry Macqueen
Starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour and 34 minutes
In theaters Jan 29, digital rental starting Feb 16

by Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer

Between tight shots in their camper van and exquisite views of the English Lake District without anyone else in sight, it can seem as if longterm partners Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are the only people in their world. They hold each other close in bed, and one will casually graze his hand across the other’s arm. Even as they bicker, they have to fight to suppress the laughter that wants to escape. In short, they love each other, and not only that - they still love each other. So when Tusker is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, his condition takes a heavy toll on both of them.

Writer-director Harry Macqueen’s tender and delicate Supernova introduces us to Sam and Tusker well past Tusker’s diagnosis. There’s no surprising deterioration or anxious awaiting of test results. Instead, we see how Sam and Tusker have attempted to adjust to their new life. Tusker, a writer, stubbornly holding on to whatever he still has control over; Sam, a pianist, becoming a reticent caretaker; both trying not to burden his partner with his fear. They’ve set off in their van on a trip through the Lake District, the site of a trip early in their relationship, en route to see family and for Sam to give a concert after a long absence.

The film is at its best in the nearly two-thirds of the movie that essentially only features Sam and Tusker. Without Firth and Tucci’s stellar performances, Supernova would be a slog. Both grounded performances suggest personalities that have been tweaked by Tusker’s illness. Tucci makes Tusker’s bravado seem defiant, an insistence on dazzling while he still can, while Firth’s Sam is drawn inward, more cautious of what he says and shares. Macqueen’s understated script gives Tucci and Firth room to build their relationship with gestures and glances. The way Tusker hooks his arm through Sam’s or how Sam looks at Tusker across a room at a party textures a relationship without much backstory.

It’s the center of the film, when they arrive at Sam’s sister’s house for a surprise party organized by Tusker, that dims Supernova’s glow for me. As Tusker and Sam interact with their family and friends, it seems that their life outside of each other has been thinly sketched. There’s no real sense of who these people are or how they fit into Sam and Tusker’s life. For a movie that’s allowed them to be so specific in their affection and connection, to get a glimpse into the rest of their life that’s so bland and non-distinct is a real disappointment.

In part, I think, it’s because nothing about the rest of this life that’s suggested seems particularly gay. Except for Tucci and Firth playing partners, the party scenes would have been exactly the same in a movie about a straight couple dealing with dementia. While I don’t think that gay people experience dealing with and caring for a partner with a terminal illness much differently than straight people do (at least in an emotional sense), I’d like to see movies that deal with gay characters consider the fact that their gay characters live gay lives. There’s no one right way to be gay, but gay people do have different experiences than straight people, and it’s not as simple as inserting gay characters into a straight narrative.

Certainly, this is not the most important part of the movie. Firth and Tucci continue to give impressive performances–two of the best of their careers, in fact–after a discovery at the party forces a difficult but inevitable conversation. But now I start to wonder: would this movie look any different with, say, Rupert Everett and David Hyde Pierce as Sam and Tusker? Both Tucci and Firth have a long history of playing gay characters, and personally, I usually enjoy it when they do. But I think there’s a degree of authenticity that gay actors could add to most stories about gay characters, especially one as realistic and sensitive as this one. Don’t get me wrong, Supernova is definitely worth seeing, especially if you need a good cry or even if you just want to see Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci in some truly incredible sweaters. But going forward, I think we deserve more in our gay films: more full gay lives, more gay representation, and more gay films in general.